Matthew Pauls
Rachel Krause
Jobb Arnold
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) announced three new faculty appointments.
Rachel Krause and Matthew Pauls will join CMU’s main campus faculty as assistant professor of biology and assistant professor of music, respectively. Jobb Arnold will join the faculty of Menno Simons College (MSC), a college of CMU, as assistant professor of conflict resolution studies.
Jennifer Ball
Maisie Sum
Conrad Grebel University College announced the hiring of Jennifer Ball as Assistant Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) and Maisie Sum as Assistant Professor of Music, both in tenure track positions commencing July 1, 2015.
With some extra manpower, the tractor pulls a wagon full of relief supplies up a gravel hill in the Okhaldhunga district of Nepal. Through MCC’s partner, Group of Helping Hands, 300 families received enough food for three weeks, shelter materials, blankets, soap and cooking supplies. (MCC photo/Durga Sunchiuri)
Burnamay Khatri, 28, mother of three children, received food from MCC through one of its local partners, Group of Helping Hands, in Okhaldhunga district, Nepal. Khatri's home was destroyed after the earthquake. (MCC photo/Durga Sunchiuri)
After a truck carried MCC supplies as far as it would go, Ragani villagers from Okhaldhunga district carried them home, over steep and rugged terrain. (MCC Photo/Durga Sunchiuri)
Anita Lama, 71, (right), and her family received food and sleeping mats from MCC through one of its Nepal partners, Rural Institution for Community Development. Because the earthquake destroyed two of the family’s houses, they have been living under tarps. Before they received sleeping mats, they were sleeping on a plastic sheet on the ground. (MCC photo/Binod Deshar)
Using tractors and people power to haul supplies where trucks could not go, Mennonite Central Committee’s (MCC) partner organizations finished an initial distribution of emergency supplies to Nepal earthquake survivors on Tuesday, May 12—the same day a second major earthquake rattled the country.
Jono Cullar gave the valedictorian speech at Conrad Grebel University College’s 2015 convocation. (Conrad Grebel University College photo)
Alvis Pettker represented the graduate classes in Peace and Conflict Studies and Theological Studies at Grebel’s 2015 convocation. (Conrad Grebel University College photo)
“Convocation is a time to celebrate!” With this announcement, President Susan Schultz Huxman welcomed a record number of guests sharing the day with 165 graduating students. The 2015 Conrad Grebel convocation ceremony shifted to a larger venue this year to accommodate all the friends and family members of graduating students.
Joseph Kiranto gave the valedictory address at CMU’s 2015 graduation. (CMU photo)
At CMU’s graduation service on April 26, 2015, Cheryl Pauls (centre), president of CMU, awarded President’s Medals to Rebecca Klassen-Wiebe (BMus, Concentration: Performance – Collaborative Piano) and Mike Wiebe (BA, Four-Year, Communications and Media). (CMU photo)
When Joseph Kiranto moved from Kenya to study at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), he wasn’t sure what he wanted to major in. Each class he attended piqued his interest.
Katrina Labun is an MCC SALT participant serving in Kathmandu, Nepal, as the communications and storytelling assistant for MCC Nepal. (MCC photo)
MCC SALT volunteer Katrina Labun visits a peer support group for people living with HIV, a program coordinated by MCC partner Sakriya Sewa Samaj. (MCC photo courtesy of Katrina Labun)
Katrina Labun is an MCC SALT participant serving in Kathmandu, Nepal. She shares about her experience following the April 25, 2015, earthquake.
Cover of the memorial service bulletin
The church lost a voice for humour and faith with the passing of Joel Kauffmann, of Goshen, Ind., who died May 8, 2015.
“Joel had an uncanny ability and gift to communicate simply and clearly deep theological truths and social realities,” said J. Ron Byler, executive director of Mennonite Central Committee U.S., and a friend and colleague of Kauffmann.
Cal Redekop (right), co-founder of Mennonite Central Committee's alternative service organization Pax, accepts the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence Community Service Award from James Madison University Provost Jerry Benson on behalf of MCC and Pax. (Photo by Ervie Glick)
In 1951, Jay “Junior” Lehman, then a 21-year-old farm boy from Ohio, sailed by freighter to Antwerp, Belgium. He was among the first wave of conscientious objectors to participate in a new alternative service program called Pax. Reaching their eventual destination in Germany, Lehman and about 20 draft-age men labored to turn Nazi poison-gas bunkers into housing for World War II refugees.
The September 1, 2014 feature story, “Good work: Tales of disability, interruption and revolution,” received two Graphics awards from Canadian Church Press.
Canadian Church Press awarded Canadian Mennonite a first-place award in the Department category for Young Voices, the section written by youth and young adults.
Following two days of keynote addresses, seminars, workshops and a closing banquet at the Canadian Church Press Convention, held in Toronto from April 30 to May 1, 2015, member publications anxiously awaited the presentation of 49 Awards of Merit for work published in 2014.
In April 2015 the Kenya Mennonite Church celebrated the publication of a history of the church. “The history of the Kenya Mennonite Church is God’s story. . . . I was moved by different stories of faith, courage, brokenness, sins, failure, forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope.” — Nelson Okanya, president of Eastern Mennonite Missions (Photo by Tammy Evans)
Bishop Philip Okeyo, moderator of Kenya Mennonite Church, holds a copy of Forward in Faith, the newly completed history of the church. (Photo by Richard Showalter)
Choirs from the Kisumu West and Nairobi dioceses of Kenya Mennonite Church joined the book launch celebration. (Photo by Richard Showalter)
Excited participants streamed into the Ahero Pastoral Care Center on April 17‒18, 2015, to launch the freshly-minted history of the Kenya Mennonite Church (KMC), Forward in Faith: A Seventy-Year Journey, 1942-2012. Guests included representatives from all seven dioceses of KMC, three new associated regions, the National Council of Churches in Kenya (NCCK), and international guests from
Grilled Peace Salsa, from the upcoming revised edition of Simply in Season, to be published May 25, 2015. (Photo by Melissa Hess; food styling by Cherise Harper)
Some congregations eat together monthly and even weekly as a way of enhancing fellowship and offering hospitality with shared, regular meals. Mennonite Community Cookbook blog and Third Way website/MennoMedia have announced a ‘Best Church Potlucks Ever’ photo contest.
This shows the type of damage that the April 2015 earthquake caused in many areas of Nepal. This photo from Lalitpur District was provided by an MCC partner, Rural Institution for Community Development (RICOD). Mennonite Central Committee currently works with RICOD on a nutrition project in Lalitpur. MCC is assessing the situation in the district to determine an emergency response. (Photo provided by Mennonite Central Committee)
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) will begin its earthquake response by working with a local organization in a remote area of eastern Nepal, providing food and other essential items to affected families.
Meeting the week of April 13 in Minneapolis, representatives from MennoMedia, Mennonite Church Canada, and Mennonite Church USA laid the foundation for a new Mennonite song collection that is anticipated to be released in 2020.
This group of volunteers worked in the High River, Alta., Mennonite Disaster Service rebuilding project. High River was flooded in June 2013, and MDS continues to rebuild for residents whose homes were damaged. (Photo courtesy of MDS)
The month of April is known for many things—April Fool’s Day, the first full month of spring, the start of baseball season, “April showers bring May flowers” and regrettably the onset of severe spring weather.
Steve Heinrichs invites guests to join him in a daily “Watch and Pray” vigil and sacred fire from Easter Sunday to Earth Day to reflect and meditate on scriptural directives to respect and care for the land. (Photo by Dan Dyck)
Steve Heinrichs grew up in urban Vancouver, enjoying the nearby ocean, mountains and rivers of coastal Canada without giving much thought to their presence or condition.
“I don’t have an intimate relationship with the land,” he says. “I grew up an urban kid. Concern for the environment is a new learning experience for me.”
Liesa Unger (Photo by Merle Good)
Magali Moreno (Photo by Merle Good)
Part-time registration is now available for PA 2015, the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Assembly slated for July 21-26, 2015 in Harrisburg, PA, at the Farm Show Complex.
Siera Vercillo
In the fall of 2014, Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) presented its inaugural 20 under 35: Young Professionals Changing the World Awards, honouring young adults from Canada and the U.S.
Brander McDonald, speaker at the Canadian Mennonite 2015 annual banquet
Brander McDonald, indigenous relations coordinator for Mennonite Church British Columbia, will share his music and talk about his work as the main feature of Canadian Mennonite’s annual banquet to be held at Langley Mennonite Fellowship, 20997 40 Ave., Langley, B.C., on Saturday, April 18, 2015, at 6 p.m.
Hanan Talabeh’s family arrived as refugees from Syria, they were met at the airport by Talebeh and her daughter Nada. From left Hanadi, Lara, Nada, Sara and Jaafar. (Photo courtesy of Hanan Talabeh)
It’s easy to hear the smile in Hanan Talabeh’s voice. Even over the phone it’s obvious she’s thrilled—months after her family arrived from Syria. Talabeh’s sister-in-law, along with her three children, landed at the Ottawa airport on July 22, 2015, one year before they expected an answer on their refugee application.
More-with-Less Cookbook author Doris Longacre and her daughter Cara Sue prepare a garden vegetable and ground beef dish by the Chinese stir-fry method at a seminar. (Mennonite Central Committee photo by Ernie Klassen)
Rachel Marie Stone will manage the 40th anniversary revision of the beloved More-with-Less Cookbook. (Photo by Lisa Beth Anderson)
With one simple idea, a movement was born. As the classic cookbook of thrift and Christian compassion, the More-with-Less Cookbook has given generations of cooks healthy basic recipes that are gentle on the budget and mindful of those who are hungry.
A very special quilt hung at the rear of the church on Jan. 25, 2015, as Dutch Mennonites from the province of Friesland gathered in Drachten to celebrate World Brotherhood Day.
Local Christians have distributed food in this encampment of displaced people in Yola, where many unidentified children are living with no parents. The EYN staff liaison provided this photo with the prayer, "Lord have mercy." (Credit: Church of the Brethren Newsline)
Muslims and Christians are fleeing Maiduguri, a large city in northeastern Nigeria, looking for safer places after Boko Haram insurgents attacked the area over the weekend, and the Nigerian army responded, reports EYN staff liaison Markus Gamache.
MDS Summer Youth Program volunteers work at a project in Jamestown, Colorado, in 2014. (MDS photo)
Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) is accepting applications for its 2015 Summer Youth program (SYP), which features three unique service opportunity locations in the U.S. and Canada. The application deadline is Feb. 13, 2015.
Dr. Abram Hostetter has studied the incidence of mental illness in the Old Order Amish population compared to the general population. He has been involved with the project known in the field as the “Amish Study” since it began in 1976. (Photo by Jon Styer)
A decades-long study of genetics and psychiatric illness–in which Dr. Abram Hostetter has played a prominent role–continues to yield new clues about the causes of bipolar disorder and guide the search for new treatments.
Girls play a game by throwing balls through a hole. MCC partner House of Light and Hope specializes in support for Syrian girls, including tutoring, activities and counseling. (Photo: Silas Crews)
A smiling girl passes handfuls of water between two buckets surrounded by children in a summer camp. This camp offers some normalcy for refugee children, helps young Syrians learn the English skills required for education in Lebanon and brings together children of different backgrounds. (Photo: Silas Crews)
In Beirut, Ahmad and other Syrian refugees buy groceries with vouchers provided through an MCC project. (Photo: Silas Crews)
Rabi Allam, left, and Wisam Raad of MCC partner Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training deliver MCC relief kits, which are packed in useful plastic buckets, to Syrian refugees and Lebanese families in need. Since the Syrian crisis began, MCC has provided nearly 18,000 relief kits, 101,000 comforters and blankets and 64,528 hygiene kits in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. (Photo: Silas Crews)
Dyala Naoush, with son Khaled, received a pregnant goat from an MCC partner in a project to lessen tension between struggling host communities and the newly arrived Syrian refugees. (Photo: Silas Crews)
Because of safety concerns, full names are not used for some Syrian refugees in this article, and some names have been changed.
The garden courtyard in the center of Ahmad and Nisreen’s house in Syria opened to the sky, allowing the laughter of their children and other family members and smoke from the barbeque to waft into the neighborhood.
